the maiden and the minotaur
by greengirl666
Summary: the doctor gets a new, unexpected assistant
1. prologue

The doctor looked at the console in front of him. Another assistant gone. He sighed. He wished for someone that could travel with him forever and see everything as he did. Suddenly, the door of the tardis swung open and was slammed shut with a large amount of force. The doctor looked up, startled. It was a young girl, probably no older that 16, 17. Her eyes were shut and she was breathing heavily. She had brown hair that had snaked around her shoulders and settled there. She opened her eyes and took in her surroundings. She didn't move, still leaning against the door. Her gaze fell on the doctor, who was looking completely shocked. Her dark green eyes opened a little wider.

"Oh. My god." She breathed. She took a shaky step forward, holding her left arm.  
"You're the doctor. Aren't you" the doctor nodded slowly, wondering how she knew.  
"You stopped the attack of the Toclafan, you know with that Harold Saxon guy" the doctors face brightened and he smiled. "Good to know that i'm remembered, erm, how long ago was that, can I ask?"

"17 years ago, the year before I was born. I'm Elpie, by the way, Elphis Sax" she was starting to look a little pale. It was then that the doctor noticed a browning patch by her left arm. Blood. "What happened to your arm?" she gave a weak smile and lifted her arm. The blood was pooling around her left side, just below the heart.

"It's not my arm"

And With that, she collapsed.

* * *

hi, please review and i will continue the story. thanks!!


	2. land of the ancients

Elphie groaned and placed her right hand on her forhead

Elphie groaned and placed her right hand on her forhead. Well, at least i'm alive. That's something. All of what had happened came rushing back to her. The attack, the box, the Doctor…

She opened her eyes and looked up. The ceiling was made of a golden metal and covered with tiny domes, like spray-painted bubble wrap. A slight whirring sound was coming from behind her. With much effort, she rolled over-and almost off of-a tiny sofa chair next to the console. The doctor was standing fiddling with some of the many buttons in front of him. She suddenly remembered her side and looked down. Her top was still blood soaked, but her side was bandaged. He had obviously patched her up while she was unconscious. She sat up and moved her arm. No pain. On an impulse, she whipped her arm out in a fast punch. Nope, nothing torn. She stood up and walked over to the doctor. He looked up and smiled.

"Ah! You're awake. Sorry bout the bandages, I'm not that much of a doctor but I had to stop the bleeding. If you want to change your top there's a wardrobe in here somewhere..."

He trailed off. Elphie was still staring at the console.

"Thank you. That was really nice of you. I'm sorry for barging in like that. I was running and, well I'd fought them before but they'd never pulled a knife…. So yeah" she looked up embarrassed. "So what's all this then? "

The doctor walked round. "The TARDIS. Stands for time and relative dimension in space. It's kinda like a spaceship, only smaller. And it goes through time. Obviously, I mean the names a give away" he ran his hand through his hair

"So do you have a home to go to..?"

Elphie looked down. She sighed. "My dad died before I was born. In the Toclafan thing. My mum was sent to a mental asylum. When I was 9 she… passed away. I've been in and out of foster homes since then" there was a brief silence between them "I'm sorry" said the doctor, quietly. Elphie shrugged. She had never really known them.

"So what can we go, the past? The future?"

the doctor grinned" wherever you want to go." Elphie thought for a minute. "I want to go to the past. Can you put this thing on random or something and just see where we turn up?"

The doctor's grin grew larger than the Cheshire cat's.

"Only way to travel" and he pull the huge lever. For a minute they were thrown bout all over the place, and then abruptly stopped. Elphie pulled a piece of hair from her mouth

"Well that was ….. interesting" the doctor bounded over to the door and motioned for her to open it. She scrambled over and opened it cautiously. The doctor breathed in sharply.

"Ah! Welcome to Ancient Egypt elphie."


	3. the 7th maiden

"where in ancient Greece

"Where in ancient Greece?"

"Crete, to be exact. Though I don't know when." The doctor smiled at her mischievously,

"Come on." Elphie looked at him as he was mad

"I can't go out there in a blood-stained t-shirt and jeans! Have you got anything I can change into?"

The doctor pondered for a minute, then strode off into the TARDIS. He came back a few minutes later with a huge, wooden trunk. He dropped it with a huge crash. He gestured for her to open it. Inside were Grecian dresses, of all colours. She picked up one which was a deep emerald green, a necklace and went off to get changed. a few minutes she was done. She had put up her hair and covered her shoes. Then they walked out into the beautiful Cretan sun.

Market sellers were shouting their wares, women gossiped and children played. Elphie turned to the doctor, puzzled

"How can I understand all of this?"

"The tardis acts as a translator to all those who travel in it. Kinda like the Babel fish in that book, the one with the hitchhikers. Anyway, shall we check out the market?"

he stopped her for a second and regarded her closely

"I think you should use your full name here. It's Greek so you won't stand out" she sighed and nodded. She hated her name, and the doctor didn't exactly blend in that blue suit did he? They pressed on through the crowd. Elphie held onto the doctor's sleeve, in case they got separated. There were fishes with bright scales, priests making their way to mass, beggar boys sitting waiting for spare coins. Just as they were leaving the crowd, rough hands seized elphie across the arms and mouth. She lashed out and the doctor spun around. He raced through the crowd after them, calling her name. But it was too late. She was gone.

Elphie did by no means go quietly. She kicked and twisted, bit the hand over her mouth but to no avail. They hand knocked her over the head to try to knock her out, though this only made her angrier. For what seemed like ages she was dragged, carried and shoved down dusty avenues, until they came to a disused temple. She was pushed inside and immediately noticed a group of other children in the room. 7 boys and 6 girls. Her mind knew this was important, but it was still painful from the blow. And then it clicked as they said it.

"We are the king's guards. You have the honour to be the youths and maidens to enter the labyrinth tonight." He looked directly at elphie

"You are the 7th maiden"


	4. the road to nowhere

With this said the guards left the room and locked the door

With this said the guards left the room and locked the door. Elphie banged her head against the door. _But I'm not even Greek._ She thought to herself. She turned to face the frightened faces of the children. Save one, they were all much younger than her. Two girls were huddled together, probably sisters. She squatted down to eye level.

"Hi, my name's Elphie. Elphis." Some of the children's eyes widened in surprise but said nothing. One by one, they all told her their names. The eldest gave his name as Ares, like the God of war, but she doubted him for some reason. She went to sit by him.

"So how did you end up here as well?" he regarded her closely.

"I came here of free will. My father knows I am here and I vowed to kill the minotaur. I regret I cannot tell you more."

She gave a short laugh

"No worries, I can't tell you everything about me either." She leant over to whisper to him" I have this friend. The doctor. He is looking for me; I just know he will come. Trust me." She expected him to argue but he just accepted it. _Odd._

One of the little girls came and sat on her lap.

"Can you tell us a story Elphis?"

Elphie looked at the expecting faces of the children.

"Ok, have you ever heard the story of King Midas?"

The Doctor had worked out what had happened to elphie hours ago and he was sickened by it. He had to find a way to save her. He groaned inwardly. On her first trip too. He had found out that it was at sunset they would go down to the labyrinth, so he had a few hours. He had to think of something. Of course! Theseus! But as always no-one had heard of him. Typical. He'd have to improvise. He marched up to the guards at the mouth of the labyrinth. He grinned and pulled out his psychic paper.

"Wall inspector."

The door clicked open behind them and they silently filled out of the room, out into the dank darkness of the night. They formed two lines, one of girls one of boys. Elphie and Ares were at the end. People had lined the streets holding candles. The mothers of the children weeping silently, praying that it would be quick for their children. The king and his daughter stood next to the entrance of the labyrinth. As the daughter saw Ares, she rushed forth and almost invisibly passed him a ball of wool. _Hello, this looks familiar._ She thought._ But where is he doctor? ___The king said some pompous words and they were lead__into the labyrinth. They look one last look at the sun as the entrance to the labyrinth was sealed off. Suddenly, they heard a noise behind them, inside the tunnel. Elphie slowly made her way to the front of the children and spread her hands to protect them. It was them that she saw who it was.

"You took your sweet time!"

The doctor just grinned.


	5. Hope in the dark

sorry its been a while. Writers block for the series. r&r please! thanx

Much to the surprise of the Doctor and the other children, elphie rushed over and hugged him

Much to the surprise of the Doctor and the other children, elphie rushed over and hugged him. She looked at the others.

"This is the Doctor, he will help us. Do what he tells you and we will get out of here."

The children nodded, wide eyed. She turned back to the Doctor.

"The kings' daughter gave Ares a ball of wool" she said meaningfully. The Doctor strode over to him and held out his hand. Shaking, Ares placed it in his hands. The Doctor tied one end of it to the nearest rock and tossed it back to Ares.

"Right, let's go find ourselves a Minotaur." He looked at Ares

"Keep hold of that." And they were off.

They never stopped for more than a few minutes at a time. Always moving, like a huge follow-the-Doctor, and his weird blue screwdriver thing. After what seemed like ages, the Doctor sighed and sat down, resting his head on the rock of the tunnel wall. Having checked all the children, elphie went and joined him, resting her head on his shoulder.

"When I first met that lot, it introduced myself and said I would help them, and they just accepted it. No questions. Why?"

The Doctor looked at her closely.

"Have you ever heard the story of Pandora's box?" elphie shook her head.

"Pandora and her husband were given a box by the gods that they had to look after, but never open. Of course curiosity got the better of Pandora and she opened it. All that is wrong poured out of the box. Hate, jealousy, anger, death, old age. But the last thing to leave the box, was a tiny silvery butterfly." He pulled out her necklace. There was a tiny silver butterfly on it.

"It was Elphis. Hope. They think that you are a personification of hope.2 he let this all sink in.

"Okay, I'll pretend to be this hope person, but only 'coz I promised to get them out."

The doctor nodded. There was something else about her. Something nagging at the back of his mind that he should have figured out by now. He pushed it aside.

Just as the Minotaur came hurtling round the corner.


	6. new beginnings

ok, so this is the last capter of this episode. but have no fear!! i will return as soon as i finish my next story. if all goes to plan, i will do a series and there will be a very surprising ending!

as always R&R, and all ideas and comments welcome.

enjoy!!

Everyone leapt to their feet and elphie ran to shield the children

Everyone leapt to their feet and elphie ran to shield the children. Out of nowhere, Ares had produced a large sword and was brandishing it in front of the Minotaur. The Doctor walked over to him and gently lowered the weapon.

"I suppose that was a coming of age present from your father, prince Theseus?"

Elphie looked up sharply and resisted the urge to bang her head against the wall. She could be so thick sometimes. The Minotaur gave a deafening roar and charged towards them. The Doctor held up his sonic screwdriver and it stopped dead.

"That's better." He walked up to the towering beast in front of him

"Hello, I'm the Doctor. You don't want to eat them. Look at them, all skin and bones. Am I right in thinking that you are not from here? Would you like to go home?"

Theseus stared in shock

"But it is a monster! I must destroy it!"

The Doctor rounded on him, suddenly angry.

"And how do you think he sees you, hmm? You don't have to kill everything that you don't understand. So put that down. Now."

Theseus obeyed, knowing that he wouldn't win against this man of great knowledge. The Doctor turned back to the Minotaur. It regarded him with huge, jasper eyes. It kept the gaze for a moment, and then nodded. It was lonely, it wanted its family. The Doctor clapped his hands together.

"Okay, so here's the plan. Theseus, find some blood and wipe it on the sword. Elpie, take the children and get them out of here. When the coast is clear, come back for us." He pulled a torch and a crowbar from his Mary Poppins style coat pockets.

"You'll need these too."

Elphie took them and regarded the Doctor suspiciously.

"Are you going to be ok?"

The Doctor nodded and they left, leaving the doctor with the Minotaur. About half an hour later, elphie was back.

"Right, Theseus is a hero, the kids are on a ship back to their parents and the kings daughter is throwing a paddy 'coz she couldn't go with Theseus. Shall we go?"

They crept out into the dusk, back to the TARDIS. After goodbyes and grunts, they left the Minotaur on his desolate home. The Doctor looked at elphie, who had already changed back into her jeans and freshly cleaned t-shirt,

"Right, home?"

* * *

They stood outside her foster home, the Doctor leaning on the TARDIS door.

"Are you sure you want to do this? I get mixed up in a lot of dangerous stuff. I've had assistants get hurt, kidnapped..." he thought of Astrid "and worse."

Elphie looked up at him and nodded

"I've never lived somewhere where I felt that I could stay there, and they didn't take me in just for the benefits. I can handle danger. Please?"

The doctor smiled.

"I can bring you back the minute that you get sick of me. Just tell them that you're popping out for a bit."

Elphie nodded and ran in. the Doctor thought about this. What it a good idea? Could he keep her safe? She reminded him so much of jenny. God, he hadn't thought about her in a while. He could hear shouting from inside. Just then the door yanked open and elphie stormed out, with a small bag hanging by her side. Her foster mother was a heavily made-up blonde who obviously thought she was still in her twenties.

"And don't you dare come back!!"

He winced; she had a voice shriller than the screwdriver. Elphie smiled at him.

"So, where to?"

They stepped inside and the Doctor walked over to the console.

"Allons-y!"

And he pulled the big lever.


End file.
